Creating Wealth

1. Harv Eker, the author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, businessman and motivational speaker, is credited with saying.

“It’s simple arithmetic: Your income can grow only to the extent that you do.”

Becoming wealthy is not about investing in stocks, bonds, or other investment vehicles, but investing in yourself.  It is not what you know today, but what you plan on knowing in the future.

Why Create Wealth

As entrepreneurs and small business owners, we all want to earn a good living, if not get outright rich.  Becoming wealthy is a great motivator to drive us to take risks, work insane hours, and dream of solving market problems that many people will flock to buy.

Becoming wealthy is probably not the only reason we are in business, but in reality, we probably would not be doing what we do if we had zero chance of becoming wealthy.

Creating Wealth

Is creating wealth a healthy reason to start and stay in business?

For most people, the automatic answer to “Why create wealth?”  is that it allows us to live the life we think we want.  Assuming the business owner can overcome the work-all-the-time mentality, having wealth will allow him or her to retire early, travel, and spend money on things they think they need.

Those reasons for wanting to be wealthy, however, are fairly shallow.  While everyone has their reasons for wanting to be wealthy, I’d like to suggest one other reasons for creating wealth.

Other Reason for Creating Wealth

Wealth creation is really an action.  You are creating something.  And what you create may have a much greater influence than any charitable action you will ever envision after you become wealthy.

Bill Gates got wealthy by creating Microsoft.  While the Gates Foundation is now distributing a significant portion of Bill Gates small share of the Microsoft empire, that charitable distribution is minuscule compared to the overall influence and impact the creation of Microsoft has on the entire world.  Think of all the employees, vendors, and customers of Microsoft who have benefitted from Bill Gates’ wealth creation.

Wealth creation should not be your goal.  Building and creating your business should be your goal, and the wealth part hopefully will come along as well.  Creating wealth is only a good thing if it allows you to live with a purpose and create a better world for everyone other than just you.

How to Create Wealth

We are all familiar with the financial planning strategies to become wealthy such as live below your means, tame wild spending habits, learn to budget, and shop smart.  Here are several other ideas to help create wealth by creating something of value.

1. Whatever business you are invested in, be the best. Wealth creation is a lifelong adventure, and your business is your means of creating your wealth.  So, why not make your business the best and the most profitable part of your investment portfolio.
2. Understand that wealth is not necessarily just money. Relationships, knowledge, and skills all are also part of your wealth portfolio.  These attributes need to grow and mature just as your financial investments need to grow and mature.
3. Few people ever meet the investment goals of retiring early and traveling the world without any financial worries. Be realistic about what your “wealth” can accomplish.

The Bible

The Bible is explicit when it comes to wealth creation.  Deuteronomy 8:18 explicitly says.

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth

We always need to remember that the Lord is the one who gives us the abilities, skills, and opportunities to create wealth. We need to praise him in all circumstances and remember to give him credit in all that we do.

We need to remember we aren’t being allowed to create wealth for our own power or glory.  We are put here on earth to glorify Him, and to point to his holiness and wonder.

Our wealth creation is for the benefit of others, and through that, we will become truly wealthy.